1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a lamp shade assembly of the type including a pleated lamp shade and a support, and the method of forming same.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
It is desirable to have a pleated lamp shade assembly which is economical to manufacture, which can be shipped in a knocked-down condition to alleviate damage to the shade during shipment and to reduce shipping and storage costs, and yet be easily and quickly assembled by the ultimate customer. One attempted solution previously contemplated in the prior art includes the use of a series of deformable hook members each of which must be deformed during assembly of a rigid support member of the lamp shade with the pleated shade as the forming ring of the rigid support member is pushed past each of the hook members. As the forming ring passes the hooked end of each of the hook members the flexible hook member undeforms and returns to its original position. Then, there is required a second step of pulling the rigid support structure back into the retaining hole of each of the hook members where the lip of the retaining member deforms and then snaps back to catch the forming ring of the support member. As the forming ring is caught on all flexible hook members spaced about the pleated material, the lamp shade with the pleated material is assembled.
The above mentioned lamp shade assembly utilizing hook members had various shortcomings, as will be apparent from the above description thereof. Thus, there is the additional manufacturing costs of providing the plurality of hook members and assembling same with the pleated shade. Also, it is apparent that in the two step assembly by the ultimate customer of support structure with the deformable hook members that some difficulty during assembly can occur.
A preliminary patentability search in Class 362, subclass 352, produced the following patents, some of which may be relevant to the present invention: Payne, U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,996, issued Aug. 12, 1986; Payne, U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,268, issued Nov. 25, 1986; Yeh et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,949, issued Feb. 19, 1991; Hyland et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,312, issued Jun. 9, 1992; Hyland et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,902, issued Mar. 16, 1993; and Hyland, U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,415, issued May 10, 1994.